Almond Extract

A concentrated flavoring made from the combination of almond oil with alcohol. It is used as a flavoring in many recipes, especially cakes and pastries and it can be purchased in various sized bottles. It is best to purchase a small bottle because if it is seldom used, evaporation of the alcohol over time may result in the flavor becoming even more concentrated. For this reason, it is important to keep the bottle tightly closed. Extracts may be labeled as pure, natural, artificial, or imitation. Pure and natural extracts are governed by laws in many countries that require compliance with procedures that take the extract ingredients directly from the named flavor, such as extracting oils directly from the vanilla bean to make pure or natural vanilla extract. Artificial or imitation extracts are flavors that do not necessarily use any ingredients directly from a source named for the extract but instead used combinations of ingredients to arrive at a flavor representative of the named food extract, such as imitation lemon extract.